Monday, May 09, 2005

I would sure like to meet you.

Then I would scream “WHAT the Fuck is wrong with you people?!”

Damn you people for being so ignorant and blind and pissing me off all the time.

Cervial cancer is predicted to be a major killer in women worldwide (about a million per year, with the majority in developing countries) in the up coming years. This cancer is caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV) which in developed countries, are usually caught before the deadly stage.

HPV is extremely common. Almost half of all sexually active women in the US between 18-22 have it. However, due to screening, this is usually not a problem, but in developing countries this is not the case.

However, thanks to new technology, a new vaccine is almost ready that will prevent most cases of HPV. Everything sounds great right? No, of course not. In comes the profoundly ignorant religiously wrong once again.

"Abstinence is the best way to prevent HPV," says Bridget Maher of the Family Research Council, a leading Christian lobby group that has made much of the fact that, because it can spread by skin contact, condoms are not as effective against HPV as they are against other viruses such as HIV.

"Giving the HPV vaccine to young women could be potentially harmful, because they may see it as a license to engage in premarital sex," Maher claims.

WTF? You think THIS is the license to engage in premarital sex? Like all those young women are waiting out there thinking, ‘man, as soon as they make a vaccine…. It’s on!”

So Bridget, you’re suggesting that we keep this cancer and virus around in order to keep people from having sex? That’s fan-fucking-tastic thinking. Is the message here that not all cancers are bad? As long as the cancer serves YOUR purpose and keep people living in fear so they will follow your ‘rules’?

So what if millions of people have to die. We’ll all just learn to live under your rules and everything will be fine right? You people are unbelievable.

If you’re so against this vaccine for women in developing countries, why does a survey show 80 per cent of parents favor vaccinating their daughters? Are the women in developing countries not good enough for the vaccine? Will you make an example out of them just to prove a fucking point while killing millions of women that could’ve been saved by a simple vaccination?

Using people’s lives to push your little ignorant agendas, that’s something. You’ve gotta be pretty special to actually promote an idea like this.

Oh.. but it’s not just you that I have problems with in this case. Whole cultures of you are also to blame and on my list.

According to Anne Szarewski of the charity Cancer Research UK "We found that some Asian women in Britain are afraid even to get tested for HPV infection, because they say if it is positive they will be killed, never mind that their husbands probably gave it to them," says Szarewski. She feels that such attitudes may mean that HPV vaccination may be a non-starter in such communities. This same issue is also appearing in India where a large case of HPV is expected in the near future (projected 168 million in 2050).

Even when the vaccine is licensed and ready to go, the vaccine should, but probably will not, be given to younger girls (especially in different parts of the world). People will say 'My girl is very virtuous, why vaccinate?'

It will be a real challenge, not like other vaccines. Who knew wanting to save actual living people's lives would be so difficult. Where's that Sancity of life now?